As I planned on basing my images on words I first had to come up with words that I felt I could create images from,the words I ended up with were:
- Broken
- Empathy
- Freedom
- Void
- Marginalised
- Different
- Isolated
- Identity and
- Community
Cameraless
'Identity' was a word I found difficult to present through the basic objects I had planned to use, I though about different ways this word could be interpreted which led to me thinking of an Image which could be used to identify everyone. From this idea I settled on a finger print, throughout my childhood I had constantly been told that no two finger prints are the same hence why they tend to be important in criminal cases.
I thought that I could create prints which would show how detailed a finger is by experimenting with the order of chemicals in the dark room, I found that it was difficult to achieve a clean image due to the liquid properties of the chemicals.Although some of the images turned out more successful than I thought they would, this was because after dipping my hand in the chemical which stops the paper from developing I dabbed off excess liquid on tissue before pressing my hand down and exposing the paper to light.
I thought that I could create prints which would show how detailed a finger is by experimenting with the order of chemicals in the dark room, I found that it was difficult to achieve a clean image due to the liquid properties of the chemicals.Although some of the images turned out more successful than I thought they would, this was because after dipping my hand in the chemical which stops the paper from developing I dabbed off excess liquid on tissue before pressing my hand down and exposing the paper to light.
This partial failure provoked me to think of other ways to capture how unique a finger print was. I finally decided upon using a scanner, this was because I had previously been told that the scanner could pick up a mass amount of detail depending on the settings. After an overview scan from which I was able to select which areas I wanted to be scanned I set the scanner to the maximum resolution of 6,400 dpi and proceeded to scan my fingers. Due to my hand constantly moving despite adamantly trying to keep it still the majority of my thumb was cut off due to being outside of the selection which would be scanned, despite this I feel the rest of the images turned out well.
I purposely chose to scan my finger in colour so that I would be able to see the difference when I converted it to black and white. Due to the high contrast in colours I feel the image appears more intense and personal than prior to being edited. While experimenting with the curves adjustment layer I created an image I liked the look of so decided to duplicate this effect on my other images, this allowed only the detail of the finger print to stand out as if it had been found at a crime scene.
Being aware that people interpret their identity in different ways I had thought about scanning different hand signs in keeping with the concept of using hands. These hand signs consisted of ideas such as the 'peace sign' and 'sign of the horns' as they can be seen to represent different time periods, aesthetics and lifestyles in which people were deeply invested. Although this idea didn't come to fruition as It was difficult to scan a hand without it being flat on the scanner bed.
Digital
For my digital images I wanted to follow Dave Nitsche's style of work by being relatively simple. I wanted to choose a basic object for my work so decided upon an egg, this was because I felt that with this object I would be able to present the majority of the ideas I had. As I wanted to plain background but didn't have a studio space I overlaid sheets of A3 paper,I also tried to experiment with lighting by positioning a single bulb at various angles to see what effect was produced,this resulted in an orange glow in most of my photos and and an increase in shadows. For the majority of my photos I positioned my camera level with my objects, I felt that this made the image appear more intimate in some cases. I also had difficulty getting the eggs to stand up so in some cases I used double sided tape although this can be seen in the unedited photos.
I narrowed down all my images to those that I felt best represented the words I had chosen, during this phase I also came up with new words that I felt better suited the image. For example the words 'segregation' and 'marginalisation' despite meaning the same thing when I actually thought about the words I felt visually were different. I felt that one of my photos which represented being different could also represent feeling invisible. For some of my photos I had trouble deciding which presented the word the best so edited both of the pictures. When editing my pictures I focused mainly on covering up where the sheets of paper met and how eggs were stuck down as well as how the lighting changed the tone of the image. I found myself frequently darkening shadows and adjusting the colour of the eggs so that they either stood out more or faded into the background.
After editing the photos this first time I further narrowed down my selection of images.This was selection was primarily based on opinions of others and whether they felt an image would fit in with the series, I also rotated around the titles again until I felt it suited the image.
I edited the photos to black and white so that they felt more like a set, although I left the red line in colour in one of my images as I preferred there to be a hint of colour, I also did this to separate it from a similar looking image which presents a slightly different word.
I edited the photos to black and white so that they felt more like a set, although I left the red line in colour in one of my images as I preferred there to be a hint of colour, I also did this to separate it from a similar looking image which presents a slightly different word.